A site about recovering from a stroke

Walter Brennan

I was just taking my dog for a walk and this older gentleman says to me “you’re walking like Walter Brennan, what happened?” I had no idea who Walter Brennan was or what that meant. But when I got home I googled him and found out he’s some old actor who walked with a limp. That’s really rude. Now, this guy was saying it with a huge smile on his face and thought he was being friendly. To him he just saw a healthy looking young woman who was walking funny. But I’m hypersensitive to this stuff and he shouldn’t have said that.

Every day as I walk down the hall in my office building. Some person asks me how my leg is healing , because I walk funny as well. I use it as an opportunity to teach others about stroke. It’s mostly young men who comment., and are always shocked when I tell them; stroke is so foreign to people…

Marta, yes, it is an opportunity for education, but I’d rather educate on my own terms, not when I’m irked that someone just brought up a painful topic in public. Let me blog, write a book, share FB posts; but don’t make me take on opportunities when I’m unprepared, figuring out what to make for dinner, and wondering how I’m going to get bags of groceries into the house if the rain keeps up. And I try so HARD to be nice, even to the rude ones, because I don’t want people to get the impression that stroke survivors are grumpy and bitter.

So sorry! I completely hear ya. I think people see folks like you and Zack (who look completely “normal” on the outside) and wonder…”what’s going on there!?” I don’t look forward to these types of encounters. Last Sunday Zack got to take a break from rehab for church and a lunch outing and a man at the restaurant saw me feeding him and noticed he was (obviously) disabled and asked, “ma’am, was your husband injured in the war?” hahaha To which I replied, “nope. he just woke up with a swollen brain one day!” He was pretty shocked at my response….haha I kinda like the shock factor. Hey! I figure, if they are gonna ask I may as well lay it on ’em!

I love your shock approach. sometimes I’m tempted to just cry to show my true reaction AND to make them feel awful, but then can’t bring myself to endure their pity, so I suck it up, which I’ve gotten good at. Practice makes perfect.

i can relate. i have als and have heard things like, “i hope you feel better.” lol! sometimes i’m in the mood to educate, sometimes not so now i just go with what i’m feeling in the moment. honesty seems to be serving me well.

Categories

Meta

Disclaimer…

This blog IS NOT intended to be medical advice of any sort. I am writing about my experiences, my knowledge, and my opinions. My goal is to tell people what I'm going through and hopefully help someone.
____________________________________________
All that being said, rest assured that everything you read on this blog is written by a highly educated, highly trained, and highly experienced medical practitioner.
_____________________________________________
Dr. Amy Elder (formerly Shissler) PT, DPT, Cert. MDT------my full name and title